Time to Pick a BoneYou can make a good ham and bean soup using just cubes of ham alone, but to get the best flavor you should use a ham bone. You can get your ham bone from the butcher, since they will often give them away or sell them very cheaply, or you can use a leftover bone from a ham that you have served for dinner.

If you are making a ham for dinner, then any leftover ham can be used in the soup as well. In fact, the best ham and bean soup recipes use both ham bones as well as cubes of ham.